Treasury Explores Final Exit From Bank Bailouts

By

Jeffrey Sparshott

Updated Feb. 9, 2012 6:05 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—The Treasury Department is weighing the sale of stakes it owns in hundreds of smaller banks, a senior Obama administration official said, potentially accelerating the government's exit from the financial-system rescue.

More than three years after the launch of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the federal government still owns stakes in about 370 banks. While the biggest institutions, such as Citigroup Inc. and Bank of...